A burst of rain and thunderstorms will sweep across southeastern Australia this weekend, followed by a second bout of summer snow in Tasmania.

A front that's currently moving over the Indian Ocean will cross South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and NSW this weekend.

Ahead of the front, blustery northwesterly winds will drag hot air into southeastern Australia on Saturday and whip up areas of dust across the outback. This tongue of hot and windy weather will also cause elevated fire danger ratings in parts of SA, northern Victoria and western NSW.

The passage of the front and an associated low pressure trough will produce widespread rain and thunderstorms, and a gusty cool change, across southeastern Australia on Saturday. Some of these storms could become severe.

Image: Forecast accumulated rain on Saturday, according to the ECMWF-HRES model.

By Sunday, showers will mostly contract to Tasmania and southern parts of Victoria and South Australia as the front moves out into the Tasman Sea.

These showers will persist into the start of next week as a low pressure system passing south of Tasmania drives cold and showery winds across southeastern Australia.

Despite being the first month of summer, the air will get cold enough for snow to fall in highland areas of Tasmania between Sunday and Tuesday. There could also be some snow in Victoria and southern NSW early next week as well.

Image: A mass of cold snow-bearing air will pass over southeastern Australia early next week.

This will be the second time so far this week Tasmania has seen summer snow, following a brief flurry on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.